Android: How to change ring time for calls before sent to voicemail (AT&T / T-Mobile / GSM Networks)

Posted by Jimmy Selix in Android

This tech-recipe will explain how to change the length of time your phone will ring before it sends a call to voicemail. This will only work on GSM based mobile carrier and Android phones (ie AT&T, T-Mobile, any network that uses a SIM Card).

1.On your Android phone, go to your Phone app and then dial: *#61# and hit Call button.

This will display your current voicemail number and the delay time. Write down the number since we will need to enter this in next.

2. On your Android phone, we will go to your Phone app and then the keypad. We will now dial this number from the keypad to change the time your phone will ring before it goes to Voicemail.

**61*1yyyYYYyyyy*11*xx# and then hit the call button

So in the above code, you will put your voicemail number where the yYs are and the time delay in seconds for the xx‘s. Once you hit call it will give confirmation if it was successful or not.

Delay is in five second increments with the maximum being 30 seconds (ie 5,10,15,20,25,30 secs).

So for example, if my voicemail number is 555-444-4444 and i want to set it to the maximum 30 seconds, i would dial this on my Android phone’s keypad:

**61*15554445555*11*30#

This will work for AT&T, T-Mobile, and any other GSM /Sim Card Carrier and may work on other phones besides Android devices.

About Jimmy Selix

Jimmy Selix is an early adopter that loves to be one of the first on the block to have the latest and greatest in technology and gadgets. Another love of his is being able to share his knowledge to others seeking it. Feel free to drop any comments or questions that you may have.
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10 Responses to “Android: How to change ring time for calls before sent to voicemail (AT&T / T-Mobile / GSM Networks)”

December 03, 2010 at 3:49 am, Bryan "bytehead" Price said:

Since all the heavy lifting is being done by the carrier, I would say that this has to work with any GSM phone and a carrier that supports it.

Reply
- December 03, 2010 at 2:23 pm, jimmyselix said:
  
  you are correct in your assumption! this will work for nearly any phone on a GSM mobile carrier. i haven’t tried it only on a few android phones and my dumbphone.
  
  Reply
- December 03, 2010 at 3:14 pm, Anonymous said:
  
  Good point, BB Price. I posted a similar article about using this with the iPhone.
  
  http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2574/iphone_increase_time_before_call_goes_to_voicemail/
  
  But most people won’t google for “voicemail GSM” and will search for their particular phone OS or network instead…
  
  Reply
  - December 03, 2010 at 3:28 pm, Bryan "bytehead" Price said:
    
    I didn’t catch that one the first time.
    
    And since it worked with my non-Android Nuviphone (barely a smartphone at that, but that’s another discussion) and my old V3 RAZR, limiting it to Android I thought was a bit too much.
    
    And now I can change the timing to suit me, which is the part I’m enjoying!
    
    Reply
December 04, 2010 at 8:44 am, belstaff jackets said:

hello,everybody,what is your hobby in your spare time? I am fond of

listening to music,different styles,it’s really a kind of enjoying for

me.If we have same hobbies,I hope one day we can be friends.do you?

Reply
December 31, 2010 at 2:33 pm, Guest said:

I discovered my Android 2.2 phone also has a settings page that allows me to configure the ring time. Go to Settings -> Call -> Call forwarding -> Forward when unanswered. Enter the forwarding number and select the Delay from the drop-down menu.

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March 01, 2011 at 5:17 pm, Albin said:

I am not sure the above works for those who have activated the Google Voice App on their Android phone.
I get the following when entering *#61# send :

Call forwarding
Voice: Not Forwarded
Data: Not forwarded
FAX: Not Forwarded

Is there anther place to change the number of rings if you have Google voice as your “Voicemail service” under Call settings.

I changed my voicemail service to “My Carrier” tried the *#61# and still got:

Call forwarding
Voice: Not Forwarded
Data: Not forwarded
FAX: Not Forwarded

I guess I need to call in everytime I need the change the number of rings.

If anyone has found a work around for this…. that would be great.

Albin

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January 16, 2012 at 6:58 am, Matt said:

Thanks, looks like I’ll be doing a live call to CS for the pickup time extension. I would have just done that first, but your tidbit had me curious.

However, when I tried the #61#, I got: “Call forwarding when no reply service has been disabled.”

So, I just went ahead and tried the whole *61*…. procedure and got an error regarding call forwarding.

Reply
August 12, 2012 at 12:05 am, peter said:

thanks for the tip. successfully change default delay to my preferred. works on my canadian carrier

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September 28, 2012 at 2:13 pm, Tristan said:

It only worked for me if I didn’t use the “1″ before the voicemailnummer.

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